{"id":777008354,"date":"2023-08-18T08:03:57","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T11:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777008354"},"modified":"2026-04-22T18:53:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:53:56","slug":"pagcor-takes-legal-action-against-33-pogos-over-unpaid-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-takes-legal-action-against-33-pogos-over-unpaid-fees","title":{"rendered":"PAGCOR takes legal action against 33 POGOs over unpaid fees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The regulator seeks unpaid fees of PHP2.02bn (US$39.9m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.-\u00a0<\/strong>The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR)<\/strong>\u00a0has initiated legal proceedings against\u00a033 offshore gaming licensees\u00a0<\/strong>for non-payment of dues totalling PHP2.02bn (US$39.9m).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chairman and CEO\u00a0Alejandro Tengco<\/strong>\u00a0said the operators, who were granted licences during a previous administration, have persistently failed to fulfil their financial obligations.\u00a0According to PAGCOR records, they have failed to pay licence fees for over a year, violating Section 4.C of the Offshore Gaming Regulatory Manual, despite attempts by PAGCOR’s current management to engage with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tengo said: \u201cBecause of this situation, we are duty-bound to take a legal course of action. We are now in the process of gathering pertinent information to file appropriate cases against them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the 33 operators,\u00a0two received billing notifications in May 2023<\/strong>, while two were referred to PAGCOR’s Legal Group in February 2023.\u00a0Five operators have since ceased operations, but Tengco saod legal action will still be pursued.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGCOR’s CEO said: \u201cPAGCOR will continue to ensure that all our regulated gaming entities \u2013 including offshore gaming operators and service providers \u2013 will abide by our regulatory policies, including proper payment of fees and taxes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also: <\/strong>POGOs generated US$160.78m in taxes in 2022<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGCOR plans privatisation of its 45 casinos by 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

PAGCOR has disclosed plans to initiate the\u00a0privatisation of 45 casinos<\/strong>. Speaking during budget deliberations at the House of Representatives, Alejandro Tengco said the process would take place by the third quarter of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tengco said PAGCOR aimed to increase the value of the assets ahead of privatisation<\/strong>. The announcement was a response to questions raised in the session after the lawmaker Edwin Olivarez raised concerns regarding PAGCOR\u2019s dual role as both regulator and operator. He pointed out that foreign operators earn more than PAGCOR-operated casinos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The regulator seeks unpaid fees of PHP2.02bn (US$39.9m).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777008355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has initiated legal proceedings against 33 offshore gaming licensees (POGOs) for PHP2.02bn (US$39.9m) in unpaid licence fees, citing violations of their regulatory manual. Concurrently, PAGCOR announced plans to privatize its 45 casinos by Q3 2025, addressing concerns over its dual role as both regulator and operator and aiming to enhance asset value.","focusai_entities":"Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Alejandro Tengco, Edwin Olivarez","focusai_location":"The Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.75), investor_analyst (0.98), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PAGCOR Privatization Impact?","query":"What are the anticipated impacts of PAGCOR's privatization of its 45 casinos on the competitive landscape and foreign direct investment in the Philippine gaming market?"},{"label":"POGO Fee Recovery Outlook?","query":"What is the realistic outlook for PAGCOR's recovery of the PHP2.02bn in unpaid licence fees from the 33 offshore gaming licensees, considering some have ceased operations?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,158,16333],"tags":[4138,405,15789],"class_list":["post-777008354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-online-gambling","tag-pagcor","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777008354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777008354"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777008354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777008386,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777008354\/revisions\/777008386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777008355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777008354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777008354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777008354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}